Tag Archives: Video

100th vlog! How did that happen? I am filled with so many emotions that I can’t even start to try to explain where to get started. First of all I am proud that I have made one hundred vlogs. I am delighted that I have found the passion to do this.

I did my first videos back in school over 25 years ago. I was lucky enough to have a great arts teacher who was very supportive of me and my friend just grabbing the VHS video camera every chance we could and make short films, clay animations, music videos, documentaries of school events. We had a limited access to an editing sweet, which consisted of two video machines and a mixing board.

When the computers came around and got to the point that you technically could make a movies with DV video cameras and Windows movie maker. But the process was frustrating to say the least. When iPhones came along it definitely was a game changer. Having a quality video camera in my pocket I could feel the hunger to do more. When I eventually purchased a second-hand MacBook Pro, I was finally able to edit my videos. I am not trying to turn this into an Apple advertisement 🙂 But let me just say that Mac gets a lot less on the way of me creating than Windows does.

I love making videos, still music is my number one passion. What I found out though was that the videos are actually a great platform for my music as well. Having reached 100 vlogs is a milestone, but even before these vlogs, my YouTube channel had another 100 or do videos 🙂 But what makes me so humble and grateful is how you guys have watched and supported the vlogs, and for that I want to thank you guys. Here’s for another 100 vlogs 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

In this vlog I talk about what I have used so far to film my vlogs, the problems I faced and what equipment I think I will need to fix these cameras. But also we have some music and lovely views from Jaffa and Tel Aviv. And music, our second last show in Molly Bloom’s. I also am looking your input on what you think I need to improve on. Hope you enjoy it 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

Here’s a new video and bit of a talk for last week’s song “Winter Months.” I mentioned this before, but I have been doing these kind of videos lately for the people who support me on Patreon. From time to time, I’ll be giving you a little teaser of these on my blog s well, in a hopes that the tease would inspire you to become my next Patron 😉 Which you can do HERE

Anyway… Sales pitch over 😉 Back to the song. If you did not read the song post yet, check it out HERE and if you like it, you can grab your self a delved copy from my Bandcamp page HERE. Let me know what you think.

Let me get little bit technical here for a second. I made the extra effort of digging out my Lumix G2 camera for the second angle shots. It’s actually a very nice camera, and I might be using it more in the future. The only problem is that the built-in microphone on the Lumix stinks bad! It actually picks up some internal noise, which sounds like the old video tape recorders… and it’s a digital camera… But the picture quality is great. Having said that, I have been ridiculously impressed with both the camera and the sound quality of the iPhone camera.

And that’s all the technical stuff over and done with. Hit play, check out the song and share it with the world.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

So here is the last video from the Sliotar tour. This is kind of collage of the stuff that most people usually don’t see, the long hours on the road, but also few bits of video from the shows. Apart from the live concert shots, the rest of it was filmed and edited by me. I am a completely an amateur when it comes to filming and editing, so be gentle with me 😉 But I’d still love to hear your feedback as well. Oh yeah, and share it with the world 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

I have had this plan growing at the back of my head for a while, there is a room somewhere at the back of my head hidden where there is a constant board meeting going on without me knowing anything about it 😀 Due to the fact that you guys have been so amazing to follow me, support me, sign up to my mailing list, we have built a quite nice community here online. So I want to put it to some good use helping other artists. Two things, first of all every Sunday I post a blog update with links to all of my week’s blog posts, you can see lat weeks example HERE.

And I am a strong believer in images. So Instead of posting another mug shot of me on the page, I want to use this place to introduce you to new work form a member of our community every week. So This is where you come in 😉 If you are visual artist, painter, photographer, sculptor, graphic artist or any kind whose work we can post as an image, please get in contact with me at jpkallio@hotmail.com

There are few conditions, which I hope you read before you submit. The art should not be offensive or pornographic (nudity is allowed as long as it is within reason and tasteful). There should not be text in the image (this is due to Facebook advertising rules, I can’t promote the post, thus reach more people who will see your work), send me a download link, not an attachment, and last but not least, I need to really like the image. Don’t get offended if I do not choose your image, it is still only one persons opinion. And you can submit as many times as you like.

I will include one link, preferably website, and short introduction in the post, so the readers will get to know you. So get submitting. I can’t wait to see what you come up with 🙂

The second thing will be more of a random blog posts I will dedicate to art related stuff, like music, poetry, or anything with video. So if you have something else you would like me to consider, let me know. Let’s share some art 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

Why is it so hard to let go some of our preconceptions? Music business is filled with so many myths, and outdated information. This is how they did it before, so this must be the way to do it right now… Unfortunately the truth is that very few things these days in the music business are the same they were ten years ago, let alone twenty… So lets bust few of these myths:

1. When you get signed to a major label, you will get a big chunk of money from your record label.

It still amazes me how many people believe this. In fact those days are long gone. Typical major label deal these days consists the record label paying the production costs of the album. But here is the catch, for them to make back the money they will invest in to promotion after the album is done, you will need to sign a 360 deal. This means they will get a cut out of everything, and I mean everything! Yep, even the money you make from the live shows. And this is not just until they have made their money back, this is for the duration of the contract.

2. If I find a promoter abroad, they will pay for everything.

It is exiting to get to play in a foreign country. But unless you are well know enough that by just printing your name on the poster the promoter will fill every venue, the promoter will not take the risk of bringing you over. I know some of the bigger festivals in the folk scene refuse to book flights anymore. It is the band that has to take that risk. This is very much how things have always been done in the punk scene, and now it is becoming a norm for most artists. The fact is, if you don’t lose money on your first tour, you are doing well!

3. I need a manager to take me to the next level.

For get about it! Manager will only get onboard when you are in a position to be able to pay him. And considering most managers work on a percentage, how are they going to make money if you are not making money? So you need to make it to the “next level”, before a manager will want to work with you. And by the way, the last thing you want is to be stuck in a contract with a manager who is useless.

4. If only (enter the name of your favourite artist) will hear me, I will be famous.

Professional musicians are busy, famous professional musicians are extremely busy! They have their own managers to “take care of the business” for them. And those managers are insanely busy! The last thing the artist wants is to waste their manager’s time with an unknown band. That would be time the manager could be using to promote the artist themselves.

5. All I need is a one viral video to become famous.

This is not as old myth, but already turning in to something of an urban legend. OK, one of the biggest bands to have success through YouTube in the resent years is Pomplamoose. Did they have one viral video and became an overnight success? No! they have over 80 videos on their YouTube channel, some of them actually quite complex productions. It has taken them a lot of hard work. And their success is not measured in one videos views, but in the combined views of their videos. Having a one YouTube hit means very little these days. You will be yesterdays news before the day is over if you can’t keep the momentum going.

I said this before and I’m sure I’ll end up saying it again, but the only way to succeed is to work hard, long and consistently. There are no shortcuts waiting around the corner, so stop wasting time trying to find them and get some real work done.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

We were back rehearsing this week, and it is not often I get kicked in the back side by someone else when it comes to productivity, but Brian made sure we recorded another rehearsal video. I was suffering a bit with a head cold, and as it is rehearsal video it’s all there, mistakes and all 😉 But I think it actually sounds quite nice.

To learn more about the song itself, go HERE. The rehearsals are going great, but anyone who’s done this before knows it’s a long hill to climb. And I hope it comes across in the video, that we are actually trying to do something little bit different 😉 We are not trying to walk the path well-traveled 😉

I have another sneaky video from this week’s rehearsals on the way, and we have busy week ahead of us as well, so I’m sure there will be more. For now, do me a favor, share the video and leave a comment if you like it. It all helps 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

I don’t think it is any secret that I prefer Twitter over Facebook as my preferred social media. Although Facebook has come up with few cool updates lately, twitter is still the king for organic reach. Yesterday Twitter introduced something pretty cool. You can now post videos from your mobile phone directly to twitter, without having to use any other platform. These videos are max 30 sec at the moment, but with some clever thinking you can do a lot to promote your music in 30 secs 🙂

So if you have iPhone or an android phone, update your twitter app. And when you go to post a photograph, you can choose the camera and it will have option to swap over to a video. You can also choose a snippet of an existing video from your video library on the phone. I’ve already used it to share some fun rehearsal room stuff on my twitter.

I think this is a great update and I will be putting it to use in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes out for some short vlogs 😉

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

Here’s something I’d like to do more, but my resources are limited. Still I will try my best with what we got 😉 I’d like to document as much of my progress on video as possible. So we decided to set up a video camera (iPhone) in the corner of our rehearsal room week before last. It is rough around the edges, but that is the point as well. I want you to see some of the progress along the way as we rehearse the live set and eventually bring it to live shows. So don’t get too hung-up on the little mistakes here and there, that is what the rehearsal are all about 😉 And at this point we are still working on trying to figure the right sounds. But It does give you an idea of where we might be heading.

I always loved to watch the behind the scenes stuff of other artists, to see the real work that goes in to producing a show, a tour or a record. So it would be almost hypocritical of me not to even try to make something similar for you guys to enjoy. And hopefully down the line I can make something bit longer DIY documentary of the progress as well. I mentioned before the importance of your story, and this is a part of my story. Video can be a great way to share your story. It does not need to be always top quality, and it definitely does not need to be staged. Let people see the real life behind the scenes from time to time.

The song is the tittle track from my fifth album “After The Storm” that will be coming out in March. And I have Brian O’Shea playing with me on the electric banjo 🙂 Let me know what you think of the video and the idea of documenting the progress. Also what you’d like to see included in these short documents.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

This was once again bit of a last-minute decision to put out a new video this week. But I better practice what I preach 😉 Consistency is the best tool we all have, so keep the content coming people! How do you get hundred thousand views on your YouTube channel? Post a 100 videos that all get 1000 views 😉 That is the easiest and most effective way to do it. Sure you’d like one of your videos to go “Viral”… That term is starting to sound bit old to me… It is something you cannot plan for. I know some of you might be tempted to go out and buy views from some of those dodgy companies online, but I would highly advice against it. It is really easy to recognise the fake views, and at the end of the day all they do is boost your own ego…

Just concentrate making every video as good as possible, and sooner than you know you will get good at it and start seeing more views. It is not how many views one of your videos have that matter, it’s how many views all of your videos have combined 😉

OK, lesson over. Now on to the video it self. “Northern Boy” (read the songs original blog post HERE )was the tittle track from my first album and has definitely started to have a life of its own. This is the last video from a series of videos I filmed last November, so I better get working on some new ones soon 😉 And that’s why I’d love to hear what you think of the videos I’ve been posting and if you have any ideas. Also as usual, hit those shares. Thanks 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE